Celebrity shares cooking tips

Rob Streeter, Outdoors

Published 6:10 pm, Thursday, January 2, 2014

I'm excited about this article. It isn't often that you get to talk with a celebrity, and I recently had the chance to get in touch with an outdoor personality who really needs no introduction. If someone ever builds an Outdoor Cooking Hall of Fame, they will need an entire wing for SmokeeJo Barkoskie.

SmokeeJo has a regular cooking segment on his friend Larry Csonka's popular "North to Alaska" television series, firing up his trademark custom-built stainless steel charcoal grill to show viewers how he prepares Alaskan fish and game. Joe also participates in many of the hunting and fishing adventures on the show, catching salmon and hunting for caribou, among other things.

Joe Barkoskie grew up in Palm Valley, Fla., where his parents managed a fishing camp. Over the years he spent plenty of time learning to cook fish and game under his father's tutelage. He also learned cooking from customers at the camp, and spent years perfecting his skills and developing his own spices and sauces for wild meats.

Barkoskie also authored a cookbook based on his recipes from the show, appropriately titled, "Cookin' and Grillin' in Alaska with SmokeeJo."

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Recipe

Joe Barkoskie was nice enough to share a recipe with us. Here's Joe's way of cooking venison tenderloin:

Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

1 lb bacon

2 lbs deer tenderloin

1 cup of your favorite marinade

Black Pepper

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Soak meat in marinade for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. After marinating, wrap a strip of bacon around each piece of meat starting at one end and working to the other. Stick toothpicks in each end to hold the bacon in place. Lay the meat on a preheated grill, sprinkle seasoning and turn as needed. When bacon is cooked, the meat is done. Serves 4-6.

I asked Joe for his take on preparing venison, and he had some ideas that I've never heard of before. For example, Joe has a different spin on preparing venison for the table. "After I butcher the deer and quarter it up, I like to put it in a big cooler and cover it with ice and water for 4 days, changing the water the second day with more ice and water," Barkoskie said. "Doing it this way helps get rid of the wild game taste."

Barkoskie is also particular about how he uses specific cuts of venison. "To get the most out of your venison," Barkoskie said, "use the right cuts of meat to make for a better-tasting meal." Joe uses tenderloin for grilling and calls it the "prime cut."

"The hams and shoulder are better used for roasting in the oven or the grill. They also require more cooking," Barkoskie said. Joe uses tougher cuts, like the ribs and neck meat, for stews where they cook slowly over a longer period of time to make them tender.

SmokeeJo regularly posts fish and game recipes on the following website: http://larrycsonka.com. His cookbook is also available there. I've had the chance to try several of his recipes and have had success with them. They use ingredients that are easy to find, and if you are proficient with a grill you will not be disappointed.